About Us

Staff

Kyra Stewart – Founder

The business launched in 1999 when a life-long passion for making and collecting costumes, and dressing friends, turned from hobby to vocation. It started in my home, a condo, with a personal collection of about 500 used costumes, some stage worn, some vintage, some fan-made, all interesting and not the usual stuff you’d see in a costume shop. Over the last 10 years, we have grown and blossomed, thanks especially to the many gifted associates who have lent time and talent, soul and spirit, and left their marks as they moved on, or are with me still. Those you might meet now, when you come in the store, share this page with me, below. What lights my fire? I love to hear the exclamations of awe and exuberance as newcomers step over our threshold and begin to discover and explore — the affirmation is like oxygen to me, it is my life force.

Angie Glasser — wardrobe stylist, make-up artist

Angie came in as a seasonal employee in 2003 and is with me still. She quit her “real” job in 2004, invested her capital in this corporation and became my first co-owner as we converted to a worker-owned cooperative in 2005. In 2008, she took out her capital to invest it in her own business, Pinup Girl Lingerie, where customers shop in the privacy of a host’s home. Angie says her passion, with costumes or lingerie, is to help each person create a complete look, head-to-toe, with all the details, accessories, hair, footwear, etc. She can put you together in any look you seek, and help you discover a new you, if you aren’t already sure what you want to be! As a make-up artist, she specializes in fantasy and beauty, and is known for her “painted on masks” for masquerade.

Betsy Karig — professionally trained make-up artist

Betsy is in the shop by appointment only now, having joined the team in August 2006. Her specialty is zombies, gore and horror. As a graduate of the Make-Up Designory in Burbank, she is affectionately known as our “Hollywood trained make-up artist” and she has the credentials to back it up. She has trained our seasonal employees in basic special effects techniques and is available to give you one-on-one training, or simply create your scary look for you.

Kelsey — wardrobe stylist, merchandising and assistant buyer

Kelsey joined the team in 2006 as a seasonal employee and worked with us off and on throughout school. We are fortunate to have her as a permanent member of the team now. An artist and designer in many mediums, Kelsey has an eye for using costume pieces in non-traditional ways to solve wardrobe challenges and create desired effects. Her gifts are also inestimable in arranging overcrowded products in displays that are functional and attractive. She can seemingly create space when we run out of room! Her wide and varied experience on the job means she can not only dress you to a T, but she can also handle most questions that arise in the normal course of business, acting as my proxy in my absence, running a small business.

On behalf of the whole team, let me say we love to dress you up!
– Kyra